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Monday, November 3, 2014

Before flying off at this year’s Official Selection
to Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF), the Nova Villa-Freddie Webb
onscreen reunion, “1st Ko si 3rd” will open exclusive at
Ayala Malls Cinemas nationwide starting November 12.

Written
and directed by Real Florido and included in the New Breed Category of this
year’s Cinemalaya Indpendent Film Festival (Year 10), “1st Ko si 3rd”
introduces the audience to a 65-year old woman, Cory (Villa) married to
Alejandro (Dante Rivero) who gets reunited with her 1st love, Third (Webb) and
finally the supposed 1st date happens five decades after they got separated.

“1st
Ko si 3rd” also bagged this year’s Cinemalaya Best Actor Award
(Dante Rivero). Director Florido muses on the movie’s theme on love and life
especially among Filipinos who face the twilight years of their lives, “When we
hear about first love, the first things that we imagine are the fondest
memories of a person's young love. We instantaneously recreate this image of
how they look like back in the days. This time, I want to flip the lenses. I
want to show the other side –the point of view of the one who is looking back
at a distant memory and at the same time be able to narrate a story of love and
life through the eyes of ageing people.
This film aims to do just that. Cory’s story is more than just about her
1st love. It is also about a person’s apprehensions and fears in the life that
is waiting during retirement—a reflection of the life of most Filipino
retirees.”

Nova Villa, Dante Rivero and Freddie
Webb , compleat actors round up an
amazing endearing cast in “1st Ko si 3rd.” The movie pans on the first day of her
retirement, 65-year-old Cory busies herself by cleaning her house until it was
immaculate and spotless. Still, something does not feel right. She is not used
to the silence and to spending every waking hour with just her husband,
Alejandro. She wonders if this is all she is to do and can expect for the rest
of her life, after spending a good deal of it working so hard.

Alejandro notices the changes in
Cory. Their fights seem to be a side-effect of Cory’s retirement. Now that she
is no longer working, she feels useless as a person and worthless as a woman.

Then unexpectedly, Cory bumps into
Third, her first love. Third was the first man who made her fall in love
deeply. He was her teenage dream. She cannot forget Third because their first
date never happened.

Try as she might, Cory is almost
bursting with happiness seeing Third again. Her life suddenly becomes more
colorful and exciting as she realizes she can spend her days doing things she
never had time for before –learning to chat in the Internet, do idle talks with
newfound friends, pamper herself at the salon and do aerobics. Life is
definitely looking brighter, especially when Third asks her out. Finally, their
first date is about to happen.

Cory brings with her a handful of
love letters she never gave to Third, kept all through the years they were
apart. She is now ready to give them to her first love. On the day of their
first date, Cory will realize what is lacking with her relationship with
Alejandro as she discovers if “first love never (really) dies”.

Real
Florido grew up in Caloocan City, a densely populated area in Manila, which
inspired him to do his 1st short film “Like A Broken Phonograph”—an official
selection to the 4th Chicago Fil-Am Film Festival and film in competition in
the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival.

While finishing bachelor’s degree in
Mass Communication as a full scholar in the University of the City of Manila,
he managed to get a job or two in different production outfits as assistant and
project manager. Shortly after college, he got an assistant director job for
ICU BED #7, a film that competed in the 1st Cinemalaya Film Fest. He later
worked full time as writer and content producer for GMA 7, a leading
broadcasting channel in the country. He
was able to finish cinematography class at Mowelfund Film Institute and made
another short film, “Mr. Perfect” that won 3rd place in the 180 Microcinema
Film Festival and one of the Supreme Films in the Shoot4Life Filmmarathon
Competition in Budapest, Hungary.